47-55.1 '50 3600 re-do. Shortening things up!

[mobileortho]

Wasn’t sure if I’d have issues with vacuum so I decided to upgrade the brakes to Hydroboost and Wilwood MC. It came as a complete setup but as you see the pedal is way longer than the old assembly which fit perfectly. Had to shorten it to make it fit.

[dsraven]

You'll like the hydro boost once it's in there.

[joedoh]

hydroboost is a serious braking upgrade, like dsraven says you will love having it

[mobileortho]

Thanks for the reassurance. I’ve had the but puckering experience before of pressing the brake pedal and nothing happens! Don’t want to relive that experience!!

[mobileortho]

I bought set of Wilwood calipers awhile back. Another bolter said he used these on his MMII suspension and they worked greatÂ….well they are no where near bolt on and unfortunately I’ve had them so long itÂ’s too late to return them! 😒

[mobileortho]

Been working on steering & braking. Finally got the steering sorted out. The heim joint is pretty close to the exhaust.

[mobileortho]

Speedway Motors has a 15” reproduction wheel the bolts on without an adaptor. Trying to figure out how to make the horn work.

[dsraven]

the pics maybe look closer than actual but that heim joint looks pretty close to the exhaust. you might wanna heat shield that stuff

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by dsraven

the pics maybe look closer than actual but that heim joint looks pretty close to the exhaust. you might wanna heat shield that stuff

Yeah, I know. There's about 3/8" between the manifold & the joint. That was the best spot I could find of considering how the manifolds are made. I'm looking at trying to adapt the heat shields similar to the 5.3-6.0 stock ones. If that doesn't work I may wrap it.

[dsraven]

Is there room for a piece of sheet metal between those parts?

[dsraven]

Do you have a pic from a little further away that would show the column coming through the firewall? Would it help to change the angle of the column or where it exits the firewall? There is a lot of hardware in a short distance.

[mobileortho]

Maybe these shots would offer a bit more prespective.

[dsraven]

Man, that is close. I spoze you already tried the hemi joint further forward, eh?
What about offsetting the engine to the passenger side. Lots of OEM vehicles have done that. I'm thinking that heim joint and u joints are gonna get cooking hot.

[joedoh]

I did a MII and steering on a guys truck, it ended up about the same. funny how you also used the double joint to joggle the shaft away from the motor.

i mounted the column higher in the dash though, so the u joints are further from the manifold, and the manifold ist bolted down yet either

[dsraven]

yeah, thats what I was wondering about as well. possibly a little firewall work would be involved but a better, longer lasting and more reliable system.
nice job on shaft support just below the firewall joedoh. something a lot of guys forget or possibly haven't thought of.

[dsraven]

I just took another look at the pics there joedoh, I had to laugh at the wiring cut off with, like, a thousand wires in the loom. it reminds me of my project. I removed a truckload of wires from my donor's harness.

[dsraven]

a column mounted higher up on the firewall, with a short extension through the firewall rather than longer, gives more options for steering shaft routing around the engine. also wondering if there is a heim joint with the correct ID that possibly has less bulk to it or possibly one could be re-made to be a little shorter in the mounting area. that way the mount could be run up the engine side to act as a heat reflector or even have a piece of sheet metal on it as a heat guard. just spit ballin.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by dsraven

a column mounted higher up on the firewall, with a short extension through the firewall rather than longer, gives more options for steering shaft routing around the engine. also wondering if there is a heim joint with the correct ID that possibly has less bulk to it or possibly one could be re-made to be a little shorter in the mounting area. that way the mount could be run up the engine side to act as a heat reflector or even have a piece of sheet metal on it as a heat guard. just spit ballin.

All good suggestions worth exploring. I’ll see which one will work better for me. Also may opt for something a little different for an exhaust manifold. Stand by.

Originally Posted by joedoh

I did a MII and steering on a guys truck, it ended up about the same. funny how you also used the double joint to joggle the shaft away from the motor.

i mounted the column higher in the dash though, so the u joints are further from the manifold, and the manifold ist bolted down yet either

Thanks for the pics Joedoh. I like the dual joint setup. Did you run into any issues after you got it running?

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by mobileortho

Thanks for the pics Joedoh. I like the dual joint setup. Did you run into any issues after you got it running?

unfortunately, it was a customer truck. he had a bed and front clip and wanted trade out on some labor. he said he wanted it running by summer, I told him he was lucky summer came every year.

seriously though, he edged up on what was required on my side till we hit the hard stop, the list of things i told him I would do and no more. he has called me to come out and do more but he doesnt want to pay realistic money. while i was working on his firewall he wanted me to come weld in some floor pans on an impala "real quick". I said it wasnt on the list. he asked how much, I said if its all trimmed and all i have to do is weld it in and patch a couple spots, $750. he said "AW HELL NOOOO" like I was trying to rob him. next time i was there he had a $150 cardboard freight flux core welder and was busy making bubble gum. I asked how long he had been on it he said a week. I guess $150 + a week is where he draws the line.

that was 2 years ago, my guess is it still looks exactly the same.

[e015475]

Just a couple of ideas on your close hiem joint. No suggestions on the geometry, but you might think about making the joint more robust to the heat.

RBC sells hiem joints that are rated to 350F. The exhaust heat shield is unlikely to be much hotter than that unless you're under sustained open throttle.

Pitstop and other places sell hiem joints made especially for steering shafts that have a larger ID bore. It'd be much less likely to bind if it did get hot

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by e015475

Just a couple of ideas on your close hiem joint. No suggestions on the geometry, but you might think about making the joint more robust to the heat.

RBC sells hiem joints that are rated to 350F. The exhaust heat shield is unlikely to be much hotter than that unless you're under sustained open throttle.

Pitstop and other places sell hiem joints made especially for steering shafts that have a larger ID bore. It'd be much less likely to bind if it did get hot

I'll check them out, thanks!

[e015475]

RBC catalog.............

http://www.accentbearings.com/pdf/he...ds_catalog.pdf

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by e015475

RBC catalog.............

http://www.accentbearings.com/pdf/he...ds_catalog.pdf

Thanks for the link! I gave them a call & the dimensions of the joint but they were having a hard time matching it even though they said it was likely one of their products. the tech said he'd continue to search & email me the results. Haven't heard back as of yet but I remain hopeful! If all else fails I may look into going back to a set of block huggers. I didn't have this issue with them on the old motor.

[mobileortho]

Doug Thorley full length headers solved that problem.

[mobileortho]

It’s not uncommon for one of my breakers to trip while I’m welding something in the garage. But this time a breaker tripped and I wasn’t doing anything. I kept trying to reset it, but nothing happened. I walked in the house to see if any lights were off and smelled something that smelled like an electrical short. There was nothing in the house to indicate that there was anything wrong. I walked outside and that’s when I noticed smoke coming from the vents from the crawlspace under the house. I peeked through one of the vents and saw the fire. I did something stupid, rather than calling the fire department, I grab the water hose and crawled underneath the house to put flames out myself. Turns out that of the crawl space fans short circuited. I spent a sleepless night thinking what would have happened if it happened in the middle of the night. Grateful!